Morning News: Australia Will Test No-Passport Travel

Australia considers saving all passports in the cloud; the Persian Gulf is getting too darn hot; and a Jimmy Fallon ride is coming to Universal Orlando.

First it was third-gender passports—now Australia is thinking about doing away with physical passports altogether. Instead, a traveler's identity and biometrics data would be stored in the cloud—you know, where all your music and photos live—and accessed as needed. The "cloud passport" was the brainchild of the winning team at a recent "hipster-style hackathon," quote the Sydney Morning Herald, at the Department of Foreign Affairs. They think it has the potential to go global; Australia and New Zealand are now in discussions to give cloud passports a trial run.

Speaking of clouds... E-cigarettes have been banned from checked luggage on U.S. flights "because—surprise—they pose a serious fire hazard," reports Barbara Peterson. In fact, "there have been 26 instances of the gizmos exploding or catching fire since 2009, says the Department of Transportation." The ban will go into effect asap. (Condé Nast Traveler)

Get your trip to Dubai in while you can: A new study says the Persian Gulf region of the Middle East—home to cities like Abu Dhabi and Dubai—may be too hot and humid for humans to survive by the year 2100. So...how hot is it? They say it would top a "wet-bulb temperature" of 35°C (95°F); it may sound like a Southern Florida summer, but the wet-bulb temperature (air temperature + humidity) is actually less than what the thermometer reads. In the more arid Kuwait City, the thermometer could top out at 60°C (140°F). #nothanks (CNN)

Steaks on a plane? "Among the ten largest U.S. airlines that report their spending on airplane meals to the government, United is one of the most generous, dropping, on average, $6.08 per passenger in 2014, second only to American, where the tab was $6.43 per person," reports Peterson. (Condé Nast Traveler)

Iceland's WOW Air continues its crazy run of $99 one-way flights from the U.S. (right now, Boston or Baltimore (BWI)) to Reykjavik, Iceland; it's also offering flights to Copenhagen, London, and Paris with a layover in Iceland from $149. Meaning: You may soon be the only person who hasn't been to Iceland. (The Points Guy)

File this under "space junk": Snopes debunked earlier reports about a mysterious asteroid on a doomsday path for Earth. "An object dubbed WT1190F is [indeed] expected to enter Earth's atmosphere on November 13, but poses no danger of a catastrophic collision." (Snopes)

A 3D Jimmy Fallon ride—"Race Through New York"—is coming to Universal Studios Orlando. If only it was a 3D lip sync battle. Heads would explode. (Travel Weekly)